Now and Then
by Keija
Summary: Lynne is back at the White House after spending months away recovering, but things just don't feel the same. And she's still hiding a secret of her own.


Author Note: Now, realistically this situation probably wouldn't arise. But I don't want Lynne (or David) to be dead so I prefer to think she can recover from her fall (it *is* 24 after all, Jack managed to have a heart attack, die, wake up and kick ass so Lynne can recover from a simple fall! :P) and this is supposed to be set as the Election process starts again a good few months down the line. I don't know anything about American politics (I'm sorry!) so I've made up and fudged things as I went along. I don't really know if I like this one, but it wouldn't get out of my mind till I wrote it down (and I have a complete block on the Jack/Kate thing I started), so, here you go.  
  
Final thing: (I promise!) I created two websites recently; 24db.net and 24fanfic.com - 24DB is a links database, if you have a 24 site or mailing list, please add it to the database :) I'm hoping to make it useful for new fans. The other one is an archive of 24-only fan fiction, if anyone wants to post their stuff there as well as here, that would be great!  
  
/done.  
  
- 24 -  
  
"Lynne! Here's the speech the President wanted!"  
  
Jenny appeared before her, arms loaded with papers of her own and tossed one of the top folders on to Lynne Kresge's desk. "Can you get it to him? I have to ." Jenny's voice trailed off as she disappeared down one of the offices many corridors without giving Lynne a chance to answer. Lynne sighed and pushed the folder to one side, grabbing her phone as it began its second ring.  
  
"Lynne Kresge."  
  
She proof-read the speech she had just finished re-writing as she listening to the Vice-President talk on and on about one of David Palmers latest publicity appearances. She knew enough by now to merely throw the odd comment in here and there without getting drawn into the conversation. Eventually he would run out of steam and she could go back to working in peace.  
  
Almost peace, she inwardly rolled her eyes as she leant forward to grab the piece of paper one of the junior employees was waving in her direction. She had time to read both the paper (updated figures from the early polls they'd been running to gage the publics feel for re-electing Palmer) and her speech before she was able to hang up with the Vice-President.  
  
She hit print on her computer screen and then leant back in her chair for a moment, ignoring the slight twinges she still got periodically as a result of her fall. All the injuries she'd received had been temporary, though she'd had to wait agonizing months to find out whether or not her paralysis was permanent or just temporary from the swelling and bruising. She could walk again, but long days on her feet tired her out and kept her office- bound a large percentage of the time.  
  
Her eyes flickered around the room for the nth time that day.  
  
The office just didn't feel the same as it had before her accident and it wasn't just because she felt less involved in it than she used to. Lynne hadn't figured out whether or not she'd forgiven Mike Novick for what he'd done and once she was 'with it' enough to be told of the days remaining events she'd kept it quiet. Mike had already been fired and disgraced in Palmers eyes and Lynne knew how deeply that would have cut for him, without adding the extra weight of her accident. She hadn't seen him since being loaded into the ambulance when he'd stopped her from incriminating him to the President and she thought about him as little as possible. Which was difficult, because she missed his presence in the office as much as she didn't want to.  
  
Thinking about Novick and what he'd done to her and to the President, in terms of betrayal, left her a confusing combination of angry, hurting and saddened. She preferred not to be too emotional at work, and she was always at work, so she ignored it instead of dealing with it. She'd gone over it and over it when she'd been cooped up in the hospital recovering; playing the events back in mind, trying to see signs she might have missed that could have clued them all into what was happening earlier. She should have told the President as soon as she was coherent enough to pull her story together but something had made her hold back from telling him.  
  
The fact that she still hadn't weighed heavily on her mind - to the extent that their friendship and working relationship had deteriorated. She didn't know how to get herself out of the situation she'd created for herself. Lynne did know for a fact that she didn't want to have to look David Palmer in the eyes and tell him the truth, that it was Novick who'd locked her in the room and started the whole chain of events that led to her fall. She didn't want to have to admit to one of the men she respected most that she'd been tricked by Mike, a man she was supposed to know.  
  
Her phone buzzing with the distinctive sound of the internal intercom drew her out of her reverie.  
  
"Kresge," she said tiredly, rubbing her eyes before picking up the printed version of the speech she'd been working on and stacking it on top of Jenny's file and the new figures.  
  
"Lynne, could you come into my office for a moment?"  
  
David Palmer's familiar voice had created a variety of instinctive reactions in Lynne over the years she'd worked with him. She'd respected him from the moment she met him, had followed his political path for years before meeting him and over the time they'd worked together she'd felt the beginnings of an attraction that had grown, slowly, when she wasn't paying attention. Lynne would never act on what she felt; partly because she would never make a move on her Boss and partly because she knew one of Palmer's former aides had done just that (even if Sherry had turned out to be behind the whole thing) during his first run for President.  
  
"I'll be right there, sir."  
  
The situation was irrelevant because David Palmer didn't feel anything of that sort towards her and he had enough to deal with just coping with his kids (both of whom seemed to have hit 'problem' stages as soon as the re- election was mentioned) and his ex-wife. Sherry was badgering him constantly on the phone still, Lynne assumed, trying to wrangle her way onto his staff for the election. He'd refused her help several times already but Sherry was a master at the "You *need* me, David" lines (Lynne had to give her credit; having listened in once or twice when the President put her on loudspeaker and turned down the volume so they could work through her phone call, Sherry was a master manipulator) and she didn't seem to have given up yet.  
  
With the phone back on the cradle and the files in her arms, Lynne left her desk and crossed the office towards the Presidents office. She tapped lightly on the door and waited for his reply before she opened the door and let herself in.  
  
"You wanted to see me, sir?" she asked.  
  
David Palmer's dark eyes regarded her steadily and Lynne had to force herself not to look away. She hated the effect that particular 'look' had on her, the 'serious watchful gaze'. She couldn't read his expression as well as she used to be able to, couldn't quite tell what he was thinking.  
  
"You first," he gestured with one hand towards the files she carried. "Have a seat, Lynne," he added with a touch of amusement. "Unless you're not planning on stopping long?"  
  
The innocent comment made Lynne feel worse; avoiding David was one the only things that had made living with the Mike Novick secret easier, he'd picked up on it even if he hadn't mentioned it to her. When she was around him, she always felt like she should confess. She gave him a quick smile and sat down in one of the comfortable chairs that faced David's desk.  
  
"I've re-drafted the speech you'll be giving tomorrow to the Senate," Lynne began, handing him the speech she'd just printed out. He took it whilst she explained, "I altered paragraphs five and six to reflect the developments and edited out a couple of inconstancies. I had to re-write this .," she stood up to lean over the desk and point to a section of the speech, ". bit because it didn't actually have any relevance the way it was. If you're not happy with it, I'll re-work it again." She turned away to pick up Jenny's folder.  
  
"Jenny asked me to pass this along to you," she handed him the first file, "and we got the updated figures in for the tester polls we've been doing. The results are fairly good," she handed him the final sheet of paper, "But they could be better. I think we're going to have to do some careful planning, PR-wise, to maintain a strong position." Having handed over everything she'd brought with her, she sat back down and waited to find out what David had called her in for.  
  
David put all the files to one side and leant forwards, resting his elbows on the edge of his desk. He was back to 'serious and watchful' again and it was doing nothing good for her concentration. Normally she could brush it off and mostly ignore it but she was tired, her emotional defences weaker than they would usually be, still finding her place again after only four months back in her job after her extensive recovery. He stood up; moving around the desk to lean against the edge.  
  
"Lynne, what's going on?" he asked gently and honestly.  
  
"I don't know what you mean, sir .." she murmured automatically.  
  
"Lynne, you've seemed restless and unhappy working here since you got back. Maybe I asked you to come back to work too early .." David rubbed his temples for a moment, remorse flashing across his expression, "Or maybe something else is bothering you. I don't know, because you aren't talking to me." Frustration was easily identifiable in his eyes for a minute, followed by concern as he finished, "Whatever it is, maybe I can help."  
  
Talking to David Palmer was something Lynne wanted to do; telling David would make her feel a whole lot less guilty but a whole lot more foolish, at least in her opinion. She was going to wind up telling him soon, she knew it when she looked up and met his eyes. There was concern (for her?) reflected there, along with affection and something deeper that she could only guess at and didn't think she could face digging deeper into right now anyway.  
  
"I .." she broke off. "I'm not ready to talk about it right now, sir. Soon, just .. not right now."  
  
"Then do you think we could at least get back to you calling me David? We were off to such a good start when we were both invalids," he teased, taking the conversation to a lighter note.  
  
His words reminded Lynne of the only good thing to come out of her hospital stay. David had been admitted to the same hospital she'd been taken to and, with adjoining rooms (once they were down for a long-stay), it was fairly easy (at least after a week or two when the Doctors had manage to neutralise the worst of the poison in David's bloodstream) for him to come through into her room to keep her company. It had become a routine and through the hours spent together away from work, they had become genuine friends and dropped the formality.  
  
After being discharged from the hospital, Lynne hadn't been sure how their now less-formal relationship would translate back into the workplace and they'd somehow awkwardly dropped back into an off-beat version of their previous formality.  
  
"I think I can manage that one," Lynne summoned up a genuine smile for her boss.  
  
"Good," David smiled back at her. He straightened and headed back to his chair to study the speeches and figures that Lynne had brought with her. Taking it as a signal that she was dismissed, Lynne stood up and headed for the door.  
  
"Lynne, just one last thing?"  
  
She paused in the act of opening the door, pushing it closed again and turning to face David.  
  
"Wrap up what you're doing and go get some rest."  
  
Lynne opened her mouth to argue and got cut off in advance.  
  
"I mean it, Lynne," David gave her a stern look.  
  
"Yes, *David*," she returned mock-obediently, pointedly using his name and receiving another smile in return that told her he'd noticed.  
  
He dismissed her and Lynne left the office, pulling the door closed behind her, to head back to her desk. She was secretly grateful to have been *told* to get some rest, she was starting to feel drained of all life and energy but she wouldn't have left on her own before all her work was completed. She glanced back over her shoulder at David's office when she reached her desk.  
  
She would tell David the truth soon. He'd probably be angry; mostly at Mike but she'd come under fire for having not told him straight away, David Palmer hated being lied too. Maybe it wouldn't be a big deal, maybe he wouldn't care but somehow she doubted that.  
  
She still had to tell him. She would tell him, soon. 


End file.
